GoldenEye: Rogue Agent

"Review by ccg2001"

Story:9
You're an ex MI6 agent who has accepted an offer from Goldfinger. You start off on a mission to disarm a bomb in Fort Knox with James Bond. The bomb goes off at the end and Bond dies after being crushed by a helicopter. You then find out it was just a VR Mission, but your actions in that mission were not tolerated and your dismissed from MI6 and go on to join Goldfinger.

Goldfinger recruits you and introduces you to Fransisco Scaramanga who helps fix your eye in which you lost during the mission. Your are eye is golden hence the name "Goldeneye" and it can get various upgrades throughout the game, from x ray vision to hacking abilities.

Goldfingers plan is for you to assassinate Dr. No. You go to various locations throughout the world in search of Dr. No. During your traveling you are aided by Pussy Galore, Goldfingers top pilot and Oddjob, Goldfingers bodyguard. You also encounter Xenia Onatopp who is sent by Dr. No to eliminate you.

The story is also filled with exciting cinematic scenes that make you want to play even more.

Gameplay 7

The Gameplay is awesome

First lets talk about the enemies and the E.V.I.L. AI. The AI has improved from the last games, and its true their patterns do change, which adds to the replay value. Don't think that these enemies are you're typical stupid "im going to walk into the explosion" type bad guys, no,no,no these enemies are smart they will roll away from an explosion and if they feel threatened by you they may just take one of their own and use them as a shield. Then there are the sub-bosses, there a little tougher then the normal enemies, but they do put up a challenge at times. You will also encounter tanks and helicopters, these can be quite annoying at times, but they only take 2-3 hits from a rocket launcher to take them down. There are also some main bosses, i have only encountered 2 so far Xenia Onatopp and Dr. No., Xenia is pretty simple she fight in a helicopter then on foot. Dr. No on the other hand is a lot tougher, while fighting him you have to deal with Dr. No soldiers and Sub-bosses.

Now lets get to the guns. The guns look awesome in this game.You got guns like The Rail Gun that fires through walls, The Omen XR which is a sniper that fires a laser that evaporates you, and of course you have the usual sniper,assault rifle, and pistol. You start off each stage with the pistol. Also just like Halo you can only hold two weapons which adds to the realism, don't worry this never becomes a problem in this game. The Dual Wielding is also a good option they through in, and of course some games cant be dual wielded like the rocket launcher and the assault rifle.

Now lets get into detail about the Goldeneye Powers. There are four Goldeneye Powers that you get throughout the game. The first is magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or X-Ray vision, which allows you to sense enemies behind cover, so you can plan out your attack.

The second power is E.M. Hack, which allows you to hack anything that is hackable. In order to know whats hackable and whats not hackable, equipment that is hackable will have a lit up square around it. You can also use this power to jam an enemies weapon with it, but i have found no need for this yet.

The third power is a shield that protects you for a certain amount of time against all bullets and rockets, but the greater damage the weapon does the faster your shield will decrease.

The fourth power allows you to propel your enemies into each other or into a wall. This can only be used once then you must wait for it to recharge.

Your are also rewarded for being evil. The more evil deeds and actions you do the more points you get at the end of the stage. Evil points can be obtained by doing stuff like shooting enemies in the head and holding enemies hostage. Evil points can help you unlock artwork,levels, and skins.

Controls 10

The controls are excellent there perfect for this game, there setup a bit like Halos control setup which is also good. I would recommend you leave the controls to default.

Graphics 10

The level design is brilliant. There are so many details to most of the levels, especially the Hong Kong level in which they fill the level with statue Dragons which are greatly detailed. My only complaint is the doors in the levels are a bit bigger then they should be.

The design of the enemies is awesome and extremely futuristic which im a fan of. They definitely weren't lazy when it came to character design.

The weapon design is also brilliant, they look so cool and detailed.

They did a superb job with this game, graphic wise.

Music 6
The music is average in this game, its not good, but its not bad. Some of the levels in this game actually have music that reminds me of Goldeneye 64. The only downfall about the music is the credits theme which is terrible, EON theme was so much better.

Replayability 10
The replay value is excellent. Single Player has so much replay value due to the E.V.I.L. AI and multiple choices to make to earn points to unlock more stuff. Multiplayer is also filled with replay value with over 15 multi levels, some of which are so fun like the golden gate bridge and cradle, and different multiplayer modes and many skins to chose from. X Box live also gives the game even more replay value,.

Overall 9/10
This game is the best Bond game EA has ever made and hopefully its a sign of things to come. If your deciding to buy or rent this game, i recommend you buy this game, especially if you have Live.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/03/04